It signals a certain swansong for Manor Park, the ageing canal-side home of Nuneaton Borough FC since the 1920s - and it ends an eight-year search for a new home.

The first phase of the new development will be completed by next June - in time for Boro to kick-off next season at its new home at Liberty Way, in a ground-sharing scheme with Nuneaton Rugby Football Club.

The South Terrace, in front of the existing rugby clubhouse, will hold 1,000 supporters, and the East Stand will have a 1,800 capacity.

The second phase of the development will see the construction of a 1,050-seater North Stand, ready in December next year, together with a new sports bar, training rooms, medical room and directors' and sponsors' lounges.

The final phase, the West Stand, housing 1,000 standing supporters under cover, is due for completion in 2009.

Unveiling the plans, Ted Stocker, the club's major shareholder who brokered the ground-sharing deal between the town's soccer and rugby codes, also revealed that the new stadium would be placed into a trust and fall into public ownership.

You will own modern stadium

TED STOCKER, the man who brought about a marriage of two sporting codes in Nuneaton, has pledged that the town's new soccer stadium will ultimately be owned by the public.

He plans to put Nuneaton Borough FC into the hands of a Sports Trust - effectively handing over a #2.5 million project to the people of the town.

Revealing the plan last night, he joked: "If my wife finds out, I will be dead!"

Mr Stocker, who was vice chairman of Coventry City when the Sky Blues won the FA Cup in 1987, said it made sound business sense to put the Boro into a trust because it would safeguard the club's future.

He said: "A trust takes the club out of private owner-ship into public ownership and means that the club's assets cannot be used as security.

"The club could never go into receivership. This way, the future really is secure.

"The bottom line is that my fellow directors and I will be building a stadium worth nearly #3 million and giving it away to a sporting trust."

Mr Stocker was asked at last night's unveiling whether housing developer JS Bloor had paid #4 million for Manor Park.

He said he could answer the question exactly, but revealed: "Nuneaton Borough FC will be totally debt-free when the club moves to this new ground. There will be no creditors."

He said the new stadium would ultimately have a capacity of 5,000 spectators, with a full-size second pitch boasting an artificial surface and floodlights, plus two five-a-side pitches with synthetic surfaces.

"We will use our new facilities to increase community involvement and improve commercial revenue to sustain the club.

"We will improve income by using the facilities of the new stadium to increase attendance, thus becoming sustainable in every way."

Mr Stocker also revealed that they will be seeking business partners to develop a fitness club and sports injury clinic and said their was a great deal of demand for this kind of facility.